Project 10073 Record Card — Mount Vernon, Virginia, 18 May 1964

On May 18, 1964, at approximately 2315Z, a civil engineer affiliated with GIMRADA at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, reported a sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon near Mount Vernon. The witness, described as reliable, observed a small, oval-shaped object with a white glow brighter than the brightest star. The object was initially positioned near the moon and moved around it over the course of 15 minutes before accelerating westward. During this movement, the object dimmed, split into two particles, and formed a yellowish-gray cloud. The witness continued to observe the object with binoculars until it split again and eventually faded from sight. The total duration of the sighting was 17 minutes. Official military correspondence from the 1001st Air Base Wing at Andrews AFB noted that while the sighting might have been a missile with separating stages, the absence of a contrail made this explanation uncertain. The official record card for Project 10073 lists the conclusion as 'insufficient data' and classifies the case as 'UNIDENTIFIED,' noting the possibility of a breaking research balloon. The document includes extensive meteorological data, including winds-aloft computation sheets and surface weather observations for the date of the incident, to assist in the evaluation of the sighting.